


Maru's Drift

by Kiiratam



Series: Tandem Tests with RWBY & JNPR [4]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, F/M, Fluff & Angst, Glynda is a hardass, Tests
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-05 14:57:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21210431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiiratam/pseuds/Kiiratam
Summary: Ruby and Jaune take one final test for the first semester.Takes place between Volumes 1 and 2. (My BMBLB fic index)





	Maru's Drift

"Hey, Jaune. Do _you_ know what we're here for?"

  
He shrugged. "No idea, Ruby. You got a message from Goodwitch too?"

  
"Yuuup. I wasn't sure how long it was going to take, so I told everyone to go ahead. Weiss is taking us to some fancy restaurant for the end of the semester." Ruby gestured down at herself. "So, uh, that's why I'm in this dress."

  
"Oh, yeah, that makes sense. We're just going out for ice cream cake. Pyrrha found this place out on the boardwalk, and she invited me, and I thought we could make it a team thing. I mean, Nora, ice cream cake. Good match, right?"

  
Ruby nodded. Nora _did_ love cake.

  
"So I get the dress, but why are you in your regular boots? They, uh, don't really match."

  
Looking down at her stompy boots, Ruby noticed a scuff she'd have to buff out before she went to the restaurant. "I can't actually, you know, _walk_ in heels. I want to get some fancy boots like Yang has, but they're... ridiculously expensive. So I've been saving up, but I'm not even halfway there yet. Maybe by the time we graduate."

  
Goodwitch opened the classroom door. "Miss Rose, Mr. Arc. If you'd come in, we can begin immediately." She beckoned them inside.

  
Ruby looked at Jaune, in what she was pretty sure was shared confusion. It was Jaune's pre-prelude to vomit face, which was either confusion or nausea. She really hoped it was confusion. "Ummm, Professor Goodwitch? Begin what?"

  
"Your last test of the semester."

* * *

  
Professor Goodwitch had set them up in an unusual configuration. They had desks that were facing each other, and only one desk had a console. Jaune was sitting behind it at the moment. Ruby wasn't sure what kind of weird, asymmetrical test this was, but she was pretty sure she wasn't going to like it. At least Professor Goodwitch had assured them that it wouldn't take long, and that there was nothing they forgot to study, and that they didn't need pens, or paper, or anything like that. This was just a short leadership test for both of them. Which made Ruby even nervouser. Very nervy. Nervery. What kind of leadership test could they even do, without their teams?

  
"Mr. Arc, you will begin. Please read the text on the screen now, and ask if you have any questions. Miss Rose, please just wait; your part will come soon enough."

  
Ruby moved her head back and forth a bit, not able to get any sort of angle on the screen.

  
Jaune bent his head to read, throwing her a glance early on. His face was... not one that Ruby really recognized. It wasn't on the vomit-face continuum, which was _something_, at least. "Can I ask Ruby any questions?"

  
"About her team's capabilities, yes. About the specific circumstances, no. But your time is limited, Mr. Arc." Goodwitch was sitting behind a desk with a console of her own, probably monitoring the test.

  
"Ruby, can anyone on your team manage crowds of people?"

  
...What even was this test? "Ummm-" Weiss could boss people around, and Yang could get people to like her, but neither of those were really crowd control. And Blake really wasn't a people person, but she had been going to Faunus Rights Rallies all her life. "Blake probably has the most experience, but Yang can probably read a crowd best."

  
"And Weiss is studying Logistics, right?"

  
"Yes?"

  
Jaune nodded, and started typing. After a few minutes, he leaned back. Goodwitch tapped a few keys, and he bent forward again, frowning. He tapped the monitor a few times, in different places. If this was a leadership test, maybe there was a map? And Jaune was deploying forces?

  
He gave Ruby a thoughtful look. "Can Ruby set up here?"

  
"Please re-read the scenario brief, Mr. Arc."

  
"Yeah, I read that, but I don't need her to be in the thick of it. Just up in-"

  
"Yes, Mr. Arc, I understand you. If that's what you think is best, we can put it in the scenario."

  
Jaune nodded. "Okay, then I'm done."

  
"Please pay attention to your console; there will be decision points hereafter, with a strict time limit."

  
The next five minutes were horribly awkward for Ruby. Just sitting at her desk, with nothing to do but look at Professor Goodwitch - who was just working away on her console - and Jaune, who was typing too, but kept wincing and looking up at Ruby. She could see he was sweating. How bad was this fight going, anyway? It wasn't like Jaune was bad at tactics, either. A little shaky on personal combat, but Pyrrha had him improving in leaps and bounds, and Blake was helping him with all the theory.

  
The next time Jaune looked up at her, she tried to smile at him. It wasn't much, but it was about all she could do.

  
Jaune covered his eyes and leaned on his elbows. Was he... crying? Ruby didn't think she'd used her 'scare the Grimm' smile, but maybe she had?

  
"Mr. Arc, you have ten seconds for the next decision."

  
He swiped his arm over his face and focused on the console. Jaune huffed out a breath and hit a key. Then leaned back in his chair.

  
"Thank you, Mr. Arc. If you two would switch seats, we can begin immediately."

  
Ruby bounced up out of her seat, and put a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "Are you-"

  
"Miss Rose, no talking, please."

  
Making sure she was facing away from Goodwitch, Ruby clenched her teeth together and tried not to scream. She was just trying to see if her friend was okay! What was _wrong_ with that?

  
Jaune swallowed, and stood up. Ruby gave him a quick hug - Goodwitch would probably yell at her if she did anything more - and slipped into the seat with the console. Jaune made his way to Ruby's old seat, and dropped heavily into it. He was still crying.

  
"Miss Rose, the scenario is on-screen. Please read it, and ask if you have any questions. Mr. Arc, please compose yourself."

  
Furious for Jaune, Ruby glared at the text. <Consider the following theoretical scenario: Teams JNPR and RWBY are on a mission together. While completing the mission, the leader of the other team was incapacitated. They are not dead, but seriously injured and unable to fight or move under their own power. While making your way back to civilization, you encounter the town of Maru's Drift. You are able to take on supplies, but they have no skilled doctor, long-range communication equipment, or quick means of transportation. As you are about to leave town, local hunters bring word that there is a Grimm attack massing. (See figure 1 (map of Maru's Drift) and report A (initial scout report)). What do you do?>

  
She consulted the map. It was fairly standard layout - town square, bell-tower, in the middle of a bunch of fields, with a nearby river. And the report went on about hordes of Beowolves, a lot of Ursai, Nevermores, and more the hunters couldn't identify. Too many for six Huntresses and two, no, one Huntsman. Jaune must have asked her about crowd control because he tried to evacuate everyone. But there was nowhere to evacuate everyone _to_. Maybe river barges, if there were any, but those would be vulnerable to Nevermore fly-bys.

  
What about Ren's Semblance? He could hide at least a few people.

  
"Hey Jaune? How many people can Ren affect with his Semblance at once?"

  
Jaune sniffed. "Not many. The more people there are, the faster it drains his Aura. One person, he can cover for hours. Ten people, a couple of minutes?"

  
So it wouldn't save the town. It wouldn't even save all of them. So couldn't run, couldn't hide, couldn't ever negotiate. Which left fighting.

  
Ruby started assigning guard positions in the town. She put herself in the bell-tower, and Pyrrha on the roof of the town hall. They both had rifles, and could make it tough for any strafing Nevermores. And then it was just Ren and Nora on one end of the square, and Blake and Yang on the other. Both pairs supported each other well. They were like crunchy peanut butter and marshmallow fluff, and the bread was killing Grimm. And if it got really bad, Ren could help Nora get away, and Blake could help Yang. Weiss, she had in reserve in the middle, ready to help out anyone else. Jaune, and everyone else, were just in the town hall. Including all the local citizens with combat training. They'd do better with limited avenues of defense - just whatever tried to get in the doors and windows. And Pyrrha was right there, if they needed her.

  
She looked back over everything. She had to be missing something. It was too obvious. Sure, overwhelming odds against them, but they didn't have any real options. Apart from just leave Maru's Drift to its fate. Which Ruby wouldn't do. Jaune wouldn't either. And if even if Ruby did want to leave, she probably wouldn't be able to make her team come with her. They all became Huntresses to defend people, not let them get eaten by Grimm.

  
"Miss Rose, are you finished?"

  
"Oh, yeah, sorry!" Ruby hit the button to send her deployments to Goodwitch.

  
"Thank you. Please pay attention to your console; You will have series of decisions to make, on a strict timer."

  
What kind of decisions were they going to be? 'You can only save one person' horror movie decisions? Those kind of things didn't happen in real life. At least not as clear-cut as that. Ruby looked up at Jaune, who had mostly recovered, even if his eyes were still a little red.

  
The first question popped up, and Ruby read it with dull surprise. That _was_ all it was. And it was about as real as a horror movie. None of her decisions actually affected her real friends. So it was really just about maximizing her score on the test. Which meant that she needed to prioritize for close-quarters-battle.

* * *

  
_"I confess, Glynda, I didn't expect that from Miss Rose. She didn't have any emotional reaction at all?"_

  
_ "Not a single one. Even from the surprise Grimm attack inside the town hall. She just made all her decisions at top speed, and left with Mr. Arc, trying to cheer him up."_

  
_ "Ah. I think I see my mistake. We put the other team leader there to give the testee qualms about sacrificing the other person's team. Face to face with their decisions, as it was. But for Miss Rose, we gave her a real person, hurt him, didn't let her help, and then asked her to care about theoretical people. No wonder the test didn't do what we wanted."_

  
_ "Sir. I still don't like this test. Making them choose who dies, until they finally sacrifice themselves or run away? It's cruel."_

  
_ "I don't like it either, but we need to see how they deal with failure. Mr. Arc, we found, will sacrifice himself at the first opportunity. And apparently, Miss Rose will emotionally disconnect. Now we can try to give them better tools to deal with their failure."_

  
_ "It's still cruel."_

  
_ "Yes. It is."_


End file.
